[Biopython-dev] Python 2.3

[Andreas Kuntzagk]

Am Mon, 2003-08-04 um 18.34 schrieb Michael Hoffman:
> On Fri, 1 Aug 2003, Jeffrey Chang wrote:
> 
> > What is everyone's feelings about Python 2.3 for Biopython?
> 
> I agree with the previous posters--there are some nice features but it
> isn't essential. 

I think the same.

> However, I think the programmers might have a hard
> time resisting using all those new features forever! 

I can resist for some time. (At least until I find out by accident, that
the next distribution I install comes with 2.3 preinstalled.

> ;-) We've already
> seen examples of this. It might be a good idea to decide on a
> migration schedule that will give the installed base time to migrate
> to Python 2.3 before we allow check-in of code. Maybe 1 August 2004?
> Don't worry, it will be here before you realize it. :-)
> 
> As far as enumerate, I put it into Bio.GFF.GenericTools as soon as I
> saw the PEP (indeed the code came straight out of the PEP), as are
> many other non-biological utility classes/functions. Have fun!

So we already depend on 2.3 ? Or can you use enumerate with 2.2?
The longer I think about enumerate, the more I think it is a useful
feature. Maybe we can change the migration date to September 2003 ;-)

Btw. I was thinking, is there a better way to use the Iterator-classes
in the different Modules? 

Up to now, I do it like this:
Parser = GenBank.RecordParser()
File = open ("foo")
Iterator = GenBank.Iterator(File,parser=Parser)
while 1:
    record = it.next()
    if not record: break
    ...

I think, nicer looking would be:

File = GenBank.Flatfile("foo",Parser)
for record in File:
    # work with record

Can I already do this? Maybe with the new Parsers? (I still haven't
checked it out.)

Andreas